Merry Christmas!

Here are some photos from our day!

Emily's Christmas Eve service outfit

Putting cookies out for Santa right before bed

Opening gifts on Christmas morning

Emily opening Candyland (which we played shortly after opening gifts)

Benjamin riding the car Santa left him

Benjamin (and Mommy) still sporting jammies while trying on the new vest from Grandad in NZ

Mommy sporting the new apron from Grandad in NZ (yes, I wore it and yes, I cooked)

Benjamin playing in his new tent

Jeff and Emily

Me and my girl

Me and my baby boy

The best gifts of all!

Christmas Means...

...cookies and milk while decorating the tree and a visit to Santa!

This past weekend we bought our tree and Emily and I decorated it while Daddy kept Benjamin otherwise occupied. We did invite Benjamin to join us girls for a warm chocolate chip cookie and milk afterward, though. This is something I started doing a few years ago and hope to make it a tradition. While the cookies aren't entirely homemade (dough bought from the store), I bake them and we enjoy them after decorating. Here are a few photos of Benjamin helping Daddy get the tree just right before Em and I decorated it. I have to add a footnote here and say that we've already had at least two glass ornament casualties in the five days the tree has been up. Unlike last year when he was so tiny, someone is awfully interested in the tree this time around!

Of course I had Christmas music playing while we decorated and I loved hearing Emily sing along to every single tune, even if it meant making up the words because she had no idea what was being sung. :-) Here are a couple of photos of the kids enjoying their cookies and milk.

This morning we went to the student union on the campus where Daddy works and got to spend a few minutes visiting with Santa! Before we left the house, Emily told me she was going to give Santa a hug. I thought, "Yeah, right" as I remembered last year the only way she would get her photo taken with him was with Benjamin and I as a barrier. She did better this year, although Santa will just have to wait for his hug from her. At least she talked to him this year. She was a bit taken aback when Santa called her by name! And he knew Benjamin's and Mommy and Daddy's names, too! How did he know? Why, it's the magic of Santa (for adults only: Santa also attends our church-hee hee).

Benjamin wasn't exactly sure what to think of Santa. He didn't cry but had a perplexed, serious look on his face at all times. He was most interested in the sleigh bells Santa wore on his wrists. Here are some photos from this morning and for fun, a shot of us visiting Santa last year at this time.

Of course, Mommy couldn't be left out! I had to give Santa my wish list, too!

I just thought this was a cute shot. One night last weekend we watched The Polar Express on TV. None of us had ever seen it but I had been wanting to. So we all got in our jammies and put the kids on the couch together under a blanket. They actually stayed this way and watched the movie for probably 15 minutes!